Volume 10, Number 3 (April 2023):4357-4367, doi:10.15243/jdmlm.2023.103.4357 ISSN: 2339-076X (p); 2502-2458 (e), www.jdmlm.ub.ac.id
Open Access 4357 Research Article
The dynamics of the nutrients in degraded Vertic Endoaquepts of rainfed rice fields with soil ameliorant and soil tillage management
Nourma Al Viandari1*, Anicetus Wihardjaka1, Heru Bagus Pulunggono2, Suwardi2, Mas Teddy Sutriadi1
1 Research Center for Food Crops, Research Organization for Agriculture and Food, National Research and Innovation Agency, Cibinong Science Center, Jl. Raya Jakarta-Bogor, KM. 46, Cibinong, Bogor, West Java 16911 Indonesia
2 Department of Soil Science and Land Resource, IPB University, Bogor West Java 16680 Indonesia
*corresponding author: [email protected]
Abstract Article history:
Received 5 October 2022 Accepted 19 December 2022 Published 1 April 2023
Intensive land use in the long term can cause land degradation, affecting soil fertility, especially on Vertic Endoaquepts in Pati that have been managed as rainfed rice fields. The characteristics of rainfed rice fields are low nutrient availability and rice yields. This study aimed to determine the effect of tillage depth management and soil ameliorants on nutrient availability, plant uptake, and rice yield in rainfed rice fields. The field experiment that was conducted at farmer’s field used a split-plot design. The main plot was the treatment of tillage depth treatments (OT), with depths of 10 cm (T1) and 20 cm (T2). The subplots were ameliorant treatments (A), consisting of A1 = sugarcane leaf compost, A2 = rice straw compost, A3 = chicken manure, and A4 = cow manure, with each dose of 5 t ha-1. The Inpari 32 rice variety was grown for 95 days. Available N, P and K of the soil were measured at 0, 62, and 94 days after transplanting (DAT). Plant N, P, and K contents, plant height, number of tillers, and rice yield were measured at 62 DAT. The results showed that the interaction of soil depth and ameliorant significantly affected soil available P and K but had no significant effect on soil available N. Ameliorant treatment of cow manure significantly increased rice yield.
Keywords:
nutrient availability rice fields
soil ameliorant soil tillage
Vertic Endoaquepts
To cite this article: Al Viandari, N., Wihardjaka, A., Pulunggono, H.B., Suwardi, and Sutriadi M.T. 2023. The dynamics of the nutrients in degraded Vertic Endoaquepts of rainfed rice fields with soil ameliorant and soil tillage management. Journal of Degraded and Mining Lands Management 10(3):4357-4367, doi:10.15243/jdmlm.2023.103.4357.
Introduction
The agricultural sector encounters various challenges, such as land conversion and degradation. Intensive land use in the long term can cause land degradation, affecting soil fertility. Intensive cultivation also promotes the extraction of nutrients from the soil and reduces soil fertility (Kopittke et al., 2019). Purwanto and Alam (2020) also reported that intensive and long- term farming systems reduce soil nutrients such as organic matter. Organic matter significantly impacts soil physical, chemical, and biological properties (Debele, 2020). Land degradation problem is also faced by the agricultural sector, especially in rainfed
rice fields of Pati Regency dominated by Vertic Endoaquepts. The soils are characterized by low organic C, total N, and available P contents and low cation exchange capacity (CEC). Another feature of Vertic Endoaquepts is the presence of concretion or mottling in the soil layer (Wihardjaka et al., 2002;
Baderan, 2011; Waas et al., 2014). Generally, farmers in this area cultivate rice plants in the first and second growing seasons and then plant beans, tubers, or maize. Sometimes the fields are even left fallow in water shortage (Apriyana et al., 2017; Al Viandari et al., 2022). Additionally, limited water, especially during the dry season, causes Vertic Endoaquepts to shrink, compact, and be hard to cultivate, affecting
Open Access 4358 root penetration. This requires an additional depth of
soil tillage. Increasing the soil tillage depth can increase the space for roots to move easily to reach water and nutrients (Baumhardt et al., 2005; Schneider et al., 2017; Hussein et al., 2019). Blanco-Canqui et al.
(2017) reported that intensive land management has a more significant effect on water infiltration when compared to minimum land cultivation or even no land cultivation. Rusu et al. (2009) reported that tillage could affect phosphorus and potassium contents in the soil. Soil fertility often changes in response to land use, cropping systems, and land management practices (Sahoo et al., 2022). Farmers in Pati Regency usually use minimum tillage with 10 cm depth to accelerate the planting process. Long-term application of the same tillage in monocultures causes soil degradation (Galazka et al., 2017).
Soil characteristics with low soil fertility can affect plant productivity. Soil fertility level in the agricultural sector is closely related to plant growth (Nguemezi et al., 2020). Increasing soil fertility is needed to optimize crop productivity, especially rice, the leading staple food of Indonesians. Furthermore, the need for food continues to grow, becoming a challenge for the agricultural sector in providing food.
The need for food is the main reason for planting rice in Indonesia twice to three times a year and lasts from year to year. Soil nutrients are greatly affected by land use and management practices (Purwanto and Alam, 2020).
Improving soil nutrients can be done by adding soil ameliorants from agricultural waste. Recycling organic agriculture wastes is a significant concern in improving soil properties (Sayara et al., 2020). Some materials, such as sugarcane leaf compost, rice straw compost, cow manure, and chicken manure, have a great prospect as soil ameliorants. Using agricultural organic waste as compost can solve another waste problem and benefit society, the environment, and the economy (Meemken and Qaim, 2018; Razza et al., 2018). This is because farmers usually burn the residues of their crops from pruning sugarcane leaves and polluting the environment. In contrast, applying organic residues increases microbial activity, soil fertility, plant uptake, and plant growth (Manirakiza and Şeker, 2020).
According to Statistics Indonesia (2021), around 420,700 ha of sugarcane are planted in Indonesia.
Farmers usually prune sugarcane leaves five to seven months after planting. Sugarcane can produce about 10 to 12 tonnes of dry leaves per hectare (Prabhakar et al., 2010). Sugarcane leaves contain several nutrients, such as 28.6%-organic carbon, 0.35 to 0.42% nitrogen, 0.04 to 0.15% phosphorus, and 0.50 to 0.42%
potassium (Shukla et al., 2017). This is a great potency to recycle sugarcane leaves as a soil ameliorant.
Rahardjo et al. (2019) reported that the application of sugarcane leaves as a soil ameliorant increased the diversity of microfauna which helps the decomposition
of organic matter. Likewise, rice straw is an organic waste with great potential as a soil ameliorant.
Chivenge et al. (2020) and Nghi et al. (2020) reported that total straw biomass is around 2.7 to 8 t ha-1. Rice straw remaining in the field becomes a challenge after harvest as it requires mechanization and multiple (Nghi et al., 2020).
Another organic residue that could be a soil ameliorant is animal manure. Animal manures impact the nutrient recovery of crops due to their more variable compositions and differential reaction rates compared to mineral fertilizers (Duffková et al., 2015;
Perramon et al., 2016; Dhaliwal et al., 2019). Nutrient recovery depends on a soil’s capacity to supply nutrients and a plant’s ability to acquire, transport, and remobilize nutrients (Baligar et al., 2007). A large number of chicken breeders and cattle in Pati District have the potential to utilize chicken and cow manure as a soil ameliorant. Tufaila et al. (2014) reported that chicken manure contains nutrients 1.77% of N, 274.5 mg kg-1 of P, and 32.1 mg kg-1 of K2O. Moreover, Soremi et al. (2017) reported that chicken manure significantly improved soil nutrients, such as organic C, available P, and exchangeable cations. This will be a great potential product to improve soil physical, chemical, and biological properties.
The objective of this study was to determine the dynamics of N, P and K nutrients to increase rice yield on Vertic Endoaquepts land with the addition of soil ameliorant and soil tillage management during one growing season of rice plants.
Materials and Methods Study site
A field experiment was conducted at a farmer’s field in Pucakwangi (6o 48' 5" S - 6o 48' 7" S and 111o 10' 17" E - 111o 10' 21" E), Pati Regency, Central Java, Indonesia (Figure 1), from March to November 2021.
Soils in the study area are classified as Vertic Endoaquepts, with the characteristic of topsoil being loam texture, pH of 5.87, low organic carbon content, low total nitrogen content, high phosphorus content, low cation exchange capacity (CEC), and low exchangeable Na, Ca, and Mg (Table 1). Based on meteorological data from the Automatic Weather Station (AWS) of the Indonesian Agricultural Environment Research Institute, the average rainfall is around 286 mm during the growing season (March to June), and the average maximum and minimum temperatures are 34.5 and 24.7 °C (Figure 2).
Experimental design and treatment
The field experiment used a split-plot design with the main plot of tillage management treatments with depths of 10 cm and 20 cm; the subplots were soil ameliorant treatments of sugarcane leaf compost, rice straw compost, chicken manure, and cow manure.
Open Access 4359 Each soil ameliorant was given at a dose of 5 t ha-1.
Sugarcane leaf compost and rice straw compost were prepared by composting sugarcane leaves and rice straw using anaerobic methods. During the composting process, the temperature and humidity of
the compost heaps were controlled regularly. The pH and the contents of C, N, P, and K of the composts (Table 1) were determined using the methods developed by the Indonesian Soil Research Institute (2005) (Table 2).
Table 1. Characteristics of soil and ameliorants used in this study.
Characteristics Soil Ameliorants
A1 A2 A3 A4
pH H2O (1:2.5) 5.87 7.37 7.22 7.16 7.02
Organic C (%) 0.51 35.46 24.35 32.97 24.24
Total N (%) 0.29 0.90 1.07 0.95 1.04
P2O5 (ppm) 58.50 2.76 2.58 3.34 3.20
K2O (cmol(+) kg-1) 27.32 2.12 2.69 3.87 3.03
CEC (cmol(+) kg-1) 6.04
Exchangeable Na (cmol(+) kg-1) 0.38 Exchangeable Ca (cmol(+) kg-1) 0.51 Exchangeable Mg (cmol(+) kg-1) 0.32
Texture loam
Sand (%) 39
Silt (%) 41
Clay (%) 20
Remarks: A1 = sugarcane leaf compost, A2 = rice straw compost A3 = cow manure; A4 = chicken manure; A5 = without soil ameliorant (control).
Figure 1. The study area of tillage depth management and soil ameliorants in rainfed rice fields.
Open Access 4360 Figure 2. Rainfall and temperature during the growing season.
Table 2. Instruments and methods for soil and plant analysis.
Parameter Methods and analysis tools Soil samples
pH pH meter (1:2.5)
Organic C (%) Walkley-Black, Spectrophotometry Total N (%) Kjeldahl, H2SO4 extract,
Titrimetric
P2O5 (mg 100 g-1) HCl 25%, Spectrophotometry K2O (mg 100 g-1) HCl 25%, Spectrophotometry CEC (cmol(+) kg-1) Percolation method,
Titrimetric
K (cmol(+) kg-1) Percolation method, AAS Na (cmol(+) kg-1) Percolation method, AAS Ca (cmol(+) kg-1) Percolation method, AAS Mg (cmol(+) kg-1) Percolation method, AAS N-NH4+ (%) KCl 1 M, Titrimetric Available P (ppm) Bray-I extraction,
Spectrophotometry Available K (ppm) Morgan-Wolf extraction,
AAS
Soil texture Pipette, H2O2+HCl Oxidation, Gravimetric
Plant samples
Total N H2SO4 Extraction, Titrimetric Total P HClO4, HNO3 extraction,
Spectrophotometry Total K HClO4, HNO3 extraction,
AAS
Fifteen days old seedlings of the Inpari 32 rice variety were planted with a “Jajar Legowo” spacing (20 x 40 x 10 cm) after 14 days of application of soil ameliorant on each plot with a 5 x 6 m size. Each plot was supplied with inorganic fertilizers with doses of 115 kg N, 18 kg P2O5, and 60 kg K2O, in the forms of urea, SP36 and KCl, respectively. N fertilizer was given in two stages at 7 and 28 days after transplanting (DAT), while P fertilizer was applied once at 14 days before
planting, and K fertilizer was applied in three stages, i.e., ½ dose of K2O at 7 DAT, ¼ of K2O at 28 DAT, and ¼ of K2O at 42 DAT. Soil samples were taken three times, at 0, 62, and 94 DAT. During the growth of 95 days, pests, plant diseases, and weeds were regularly controlled. The observed parameters were available N, P, and K, plant N, P, and K uptake, and grain yield. The grain yield was determined by weighing 14% grain moisture content from 6 m2 per plot for each area. The soil was sampled by a soil auger, and soil samples were promptly analyzed in the laboratory. The concentration of nutrients was determined by methods listed in Table 2. Total N, P, and K plant uptake were calculated by multiplying plant dry weight with nutrient concentration and converted to the number of plant populations in one hectare to determine plant uptake per hectare. “Jajar Legowo” planting system has 333,333 population per hectare. Soil and plant samples were analyzed at the Indonesian Agricultural Environment Research Institute (IAERI), Pati, Central Java, Indonesia.
Statistical analysis
The observed data were collected by Microsoft Excel v. 16.59 and then analyzed by the SPSS 25 for Mac to determine the analysis of variance (ANOVA) at the 95% confidence level (α = 5%), followed by the Least Significant Difference (LSD) with a significant level at p≤0.05.
Results and Discussion Soil NH4+-N
The concentration of NH4+-N in the soil was very dynamic in each treatment (Figure 3). Results of the analysis of variance showed that the interaction of tillage management and soil ameliorant had no significant effect (p>0.05) on 0 DAT, 62 DAT, and 94 DAT. This shows that the treatment of tillage depth and ameliorants did not affect the content of NH4+-N
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 Temperature (oC)
Rainfall (mm)
Day After Transplanting (DAT)
Rainfall max temp. min. temp
Open Access 4361 in the soil. Moreover, tillage management and
ameliorant had just been applied for one growing season. Nitrogen is a plant nutrient that is quickly immobilized in the soil so that its presence is very
mobile. Zheng et al. (2021) stated that using inputs containing high N can affect NH4+-N content in the soil even though the amount of input given is not always comparable to the content of NH4+-N in the soil.
Figure 3. NH4+-N dynamics at 0, 62, and 94 DAT. T1 = tillage depth of 10 cm; T2 = tillage depth of 20 cm; A1 = sugarcane leaf compost; A2 = rice straw compost; A3 = cow manure; A4 = chicken manure.
The highest value of NH4+-N was produced by T2A1, T1A1, T2A5 at 0, 62, and 94 DAT, respectively. Even NH4+-N concentration at T2A1 approached T2A5 at 94 DAT. This study showed that there should be an opportunity to apply ameliorants to increase the NH4+- N. Nitrification-denitrification has a high chance of occurring in uncertain water conditions compared to irrigated rice fields (continuous flooding) (Tan et al., 2015; Jin et al., 2020). Another study by Xie et al.
(2022) also showed that the availability of C sources affects N in the soil.
The NH4+-N content increased at 62 DAT but decreased at 94 DAT. The increasing NH4+-N content at 62 DAT was thought to have come from the supply of N from ameliorants and urea. The decrease of NH4+- N content at 94 DAT might be caused by several factors, such as N uptake by plants and water level conditions that decreased at the end of the planting season. Nguyen et al. (2018) reported that water levels generate a destructive state with limited oxygen that impacts nitrification and soil N concentration.
Soil phosphorus availability
The interaction of tillage management and soil ameliorants had a significant effect (p0.05) on the availability of P at 94 DAT. The T2A4 treatment showed the highest value of available P, around 101.93 ppm. The T2A2 treatment obtained the lowest value of available P of 42.05 ppm. Meanwhile, in 0 DAT and 62 DAT, the interaction between tillage management and soil ameliorant did not significantly (p0.05) affect P availability. However, the results of the analysis of variance showed that ameliorants treatment
had a significant effect (p<0.05) at 62 DAT and 94 DAT. T2A3 treatment had the highest concentration of available P, followed by T2A4 treatment compared to the control at 0 DAT. T1A1 treatment had the highest concentration value compared to the control at 62 DAT. T2A4 treatment had the highest available P concentration value compared to the control at 94 DAT. The high concentration in A3 and A4 ameliorant treatments was probably due to the higher P content in cow manure and chicken manure compared to sugarcane leaf compost and rice straw compost (Table 1); thus, it provided P for plants. Schmidt and Knoblauch (2020) reported that the application of chicken manure on flooded rice fields could increase P accumulation in the soil.
This study showed that the dynamics of available P decreased at 62 DAT and increased at 94 DAT with the highest concentrations in T1A4 and T2A4 treatments compared to the control (Figure 4). The decrease and increase in P concentration were thought to be influenced by the inundation process. Phosphorus can only be released when ferric phosphate (Fe³+) is reduced to ferrous phosphate (Fe²+), which is easily soluble (Wisawapipat et al., 2017). This process caused the increase in available P at 94 DAT. The low P content at 62 DAT was probably due to the uptake of P by plants. In addition, some of the P was probably still bound to Fe3+. Although the soil was inundated, the Fe3+ reduction process in the soil had not yet fully occurred. The increase of P availability at 94 DAT was also thought to be due to the accumulation of P in the rice fields. Yanai et al. (2022) reported an accumulation of nutrients, especially element P, for 50 0
1 2 3 4 5 6
T1A1 T1A2 T1A3 T1A4 T1A5 T2A1 T2A2 T2A3 T2A4 T2A5 NH4+-N (%)
Day After Transplanting (DAT)
0 DAT 62 DAT 94 DAT
Open Access 4362 years in various rice fields in Asia, including
Indonesia. The provision of P from inorganic fertilizers with high and routine doses was also suspected of affecting the accumulation of P values
and increasing P availability at 94 DAT. This also can be seen from the results of the initial soil analysis of the experimental field, which has a high total P concentration.
Figure 4. Available P dynamics at 0, 62, and 94 DAT. T1 = tillage depth of 10 cm; T2 = tillage depth of 20 cm;
A1 = sugarcane leaf compost; A2 = rice straw compost; A3 = cow manure; A4 = chicken manure.
Soil potassium availability
Figure 5 shows the dynamics of potassium availability (K) in the soil. The highest K content was observed at 62 DAT. The results and the analysis of variance showed that the soil tillage management and soil ameliorant treatments did not have a significant effect (p0.05) on the availability of K at 0, 62, and 94 DAT
(Table 3). The highest available K content of 41.36 ppm was obtained in the A2 treatment, which was significantly different from the A5 (control treatment) of 31.68 ppm. This study showed that the treatment of soil ameliorant A2 (rice straw compost) could increase available K in the soil. Rice straw is expected to be one of the sources of N, K, and silica.
Figure 5. Available K dynamics at 0, 62, and 94 DAT. T1 = tillage depth of 10 cm; T2 = tillage depth of 20 cm;
A1 = sugarcane leaf compost; A2 = rice straw compost; A3 = cow manure; A4 = chicken manure.
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
T1A1 T2A1 T1A2 T2A2 T1A3 T2A3 T1A4 T2A4 T1A5 T2A5
Available P (ppm)
Day After Transplanting (DAT)
0 DAT 62 DAT 94 DAT
0 10 20 30 40 50
T1A1 T1A2 T1A3 T1A4 T1A5 T2A1 T2A2 T2A3 T2A4 T2A5
Available K (ppm)
Day After Transplanting (DAT)
Open Access 4363 Sarkar et al. (2017) reported that the application of rice
straw could reduce the application of KCl fertilizer in the soil, and it affected rice yield. It can be possible to use composted rice straw as a source of soil K.
Moreover, rice plants need a large quantity, more than 75%, of K than N, which is held onto leaves and straw (Vijayakumar et al., 2021). It is estimated that the production of one ton of rice grains needs at least 15- 18.4 kg K to produce 1,000 of grain (Xu et al., 2015).
The dynamics of available K in the soil are thought to be influenced by water level. The increase at 62 DAT was thought to be due to the application of K fertilizer at 56 DAT. In addition, the availability of oxygen affects the availability of K in the soil. Aerobic conditions can reduce the availability of K in the soil (Wakeel et al., 2017). This can be seen in Figure 5 that the availability of K decreased at 94 DAT or sampling at harvest. Potassium (K) is one element that is easily lost after element N, and both elements have an
important role in determining rice yields (Bahmaniar et al., 2007; Vijayakumar et al., 2021).
Total N, P, and K uptake
Analysis of variance showed that the interaction between the depth of tillage and the application of ameliorant had a significant (p<0.05) effect on N uptake in the rice. The highest N uptake was produced by the T2A4 treatment with a value of 57.92 kg N ha-1 compared to the control. Interaction between tillage depth management and ameliorant material had no significant effect (p>0.05) on P and K uptake in the rice. T1A4 treatment gave the highest concentration of P absorption compared to the control, around 154.16 kg P ha-1, and T2A4 treatment gave the highest concentration of K absorption compared to the control, with a value of 217.49 kg K ha-1. The absorption concentrations of N, P, and K by the plants are presented in Table 3.
Table 3. Total N, P, and K uptake by rice plants due to tillage treatment and application of ameliorant in rainfed rice fields at observations of 62 DAT.
Soil Tillage
(OT) Ameliorant (A)
A1 A2 A3 A4 A5
Total N uptake (kg ha-1)
T1 47.01 a
B 46.39 a
B 57.26 a
B 34.51 a
A 54.23 a
B
T2 42.79 a
B 26.55 a
A 42.51 a
B 57.92 b
C 48.61 a
BC p-value for OT = 0.455, A = 0.014, OTxA = 0.001
Total P uptake (kg ha-1)
T1 84.25 a
A
85.20 a A
64.85 a A
154.16 a A
64.49 a A
T2 59.04 a
A 81.90 a
A 71.64 a
A 111.60 a
A 77.03 a
A p-value OT = 0.225, A = 0.000, OTxA = 0.000
Total K uptake (kg ha-1)
T1 84.74 a
A 177.12 a
A 167.91 a
A 169.37 a
A 139.75 a
A
T2 155.30 a
A 110.57 a
A 150.12 a
A 217.49 a
A 105.76 a
A p-value OT = 0.005, A = 0.000, OTxA = 0.001
Notes: mean value followed by the same letter is not significantly different according to the LSD test at α = 0.05. T1 = tillage depth of 10 cm; T2 = tillage depth of 20 cm; A1 = sugarcane leaf compost; A2 = rice straw compost; A3 = cow manure; A4 = chicken manure.
This study showed that the interaction between a tillage depth of 20 cm and the application of chicken manure ameliorant could increase N and K uptake of the rice. In opposition to the interaction of a tillage depth of 10 cm and the application of chicken manure ameliorant could potentially increase P uptake by plants. A soil depth of 20 cm is thought to increase the soil's porosity to make it easier for the roots to absorb the plants. Tillage treatment to a depth of 10 cm can trigger soil density and affect root growth. Parlak and Parlak (2011) state that compacted soil can reduce root growth due to the disruption of root meristem tissue growth, thereby reducing the ability to absorb nutrients
in some plants. Liebhard et al. (2022) reported that the depth of tillage affects soil structure water movement.
Tillage depth also affects nutrient concentration and root growth at the flowering stage of rice plants (Wang et al., 2021). However, the interaction between tillage depth and ameliorant material did not have a significant effect (p<0.05) on root dry weight in this study; the T2A4 treatment had the highest root dry weight compared to the control (Table 4). Kawai et al.
(2022) stated that root development greatly influences the potency of plants to absorb water and nutrients.
Thus, the depth of tillage of 20 cm can absorb nutrients well.
Open Access 4364 Table 4. Root dry weight of rice plants due to tillage treatment and application of ameliorant in rainfed rice fields
at observations of 62 DAT.
Soil Tillage (OT) Root Dry Weight of Rice Plants (g)
Ameliorant (A)
A1 A2 A3 A4 A5
T1 19.42 a
A
19.98 a A
21.97 a A
22.32 a A
18.87 a A
T2 21.10 a
A 24.40 a
A 22.38 a
A 24.15 a
A 18.48 a
A Notes: mean value followed by the same letter is not significantly different according to the LSD test at an α = 0.05. T1 = tillage depth of 10 cm; T2 = tillage depth of 20 cm; A1 = sugarcane leaf compost; A2 = rice straw compost; A3 = cow manure;
A4 = chicken manure.
Plant height, number of tillers and grain yield The results of the analysis of variance showed that tillage management and soil ameliorant had no significant effect (p0.05) on plant height at 38 DAT and 52 DAT (Table 5). Table 5 also shows no interaction effect between tillage management and soil ameliorant on the number of tillers (p0.05). However, chicken manure had a significant effect (p<0.05) on plant height at 38 DAT (58.66 cm) and 52 DAT (81.21
cm). The A4 treatment had a better average plant height than others. Besides that, the A4 treatment had a stable number of tillers compared to other treatments, even though it had no significant effect (p>0.05) on the others. Chicken manure could greatly increase plant height and the number of tillers. This is thought to be closely related to nutrient uptake and the ability of manure to absorb nutrients from the soil. The interaction of tillage treatment and soil ameliorant had no significant effect (p>0.05) on rice yield (Table 6).
Table 5. Plant height and the number of tillers due to tillage treatment and application of ameliorant in rainfed rice fields at 38 DAT and 52 DAT observations.
Ameliorant (A) Plant height (cm) Number of tillers
38 DAT 52 DAT 38 DAT 52 DAT
A1 49.89 a 72.08 a 15 a 14 a
A2 52.76 bc 76.97 b 15 a 14 a
A3 54.73 c 75.78 b 15 a 14 a
A4 58.66 d 81.21 c 15 a 15 a
A5 51.24 ab 72.05 a 14 a 14 a
p-value
OT 0.942 0.696 0.695 0.390
A 0.000 0.000 0.354 0.576
OTxA 0.901 0.676 0.823 0.272
Notes: A1 = sugarcane leaf compost; A2 = rice straw compost, A3 = cow manure; A4 = chicken manure; DAT = day after planting, OT = soil tillage.
The results showed that the A3 treatment (cow manure) had a significant effect on grain rice yields around 7.13 t ha-1. It is expected that cow manure treatment has a higher K content than other ameliorant materials (Table 1), as it is thought to strengthen plant stems and reduce the impact of spikes in rainfall and wind speed at the time of harvest. Zaman et al. (2015) reported that the potassium input in the soil could increase the strength of the stem. This study predicts that the A4 treatment has higher yields than other treatments. This was because the A4 treatment had well plant performance, as proven by the height and number of tillers that were higher than other treatments. High rainfall at the end of the growing season causes plants which have high growth to be more prone to collapse, and it affects grain yields. This
can be an evaluation to improve the performance of rice varieties with high plant growth and also have strong stems.
Soil tillage
The purpose of deep tillage is to reduce the density of the subsoil, especially after the previous planting period, which requires minimum tillage when direct- seeded. The analysis of variance on each parameter has not shown that tillage treatment significantly affected NH4+-N, available P, available K, plant uptake, and yield. It is suspected that the treatment given was only carried out for one growing season. Soil cultivation, in the long term, can have a significant impact on yield.
Based on research by Baumhardt et al. (2005), deep tillage with the addition of tillage ranging from 5.08
Open Access 4365 cm for 30 years significantly affects sorghum yield by
10%. This is possible because deep tillage carried out in the long term can improve soil drainage (Li et al., 2020). Another prediction appears that root reproduction may increase and expand the soil volume that plant roots can explore after the absence of that layer due to soil density (Baumhardt et al., 2005).
Table 6. Effect of tillage treatment and application of ameliorant on dry milled rice yield in rainfed rice fields.
Ameliorant (A) Rice yield (t ha-1)
A1 6.64 a
A2 6.85 ab
A3 7.13 b
A4 6.55 a
A5 6.64 a
p-value
OT 0.147
A 0.041
OT x A 0.576
Notes: A1 = sugarcane leaf compost; A2 = rice straw compost; A3 = cow manure; A4 = manure chicken, OT = soil tillage.
Another study showed that land planted with wheat and sunflowers for 15 years increased yield on soil with deep tillage during two growing seasons.
However, deep tillage needs to be reworked after two years as re-compacting and deposition occur at 30-60 m (Botta et al., 2006). However, it did not significantly affect (p0.05) NH4+-N, available P, available K, plant uptake, and yield. Deep tillage management of T2A1 had a higher NH4+-N value at the beginning of the experiment, the T2A3 treatment at the maximum vegetative phase (62 DAT), and the T2A5 treatment at the harvest period (94 DAT). The T2A4 treatment had higher NH4+-N and N uptake values than the other treatments. This shows that the deep tillage treatment could have a good effect on the interaction of soil ameliorant. This needs to be investigated in long-term experiments.
Conclusion
Deep tillage management and soil ameliorants treatment contribute to increasing nutrient availability, plant uptakes and rice yield in rainfed rice fields. The combined treatments of tillage depth and soil ameliorants significantly (p<0.05) affected the availability of P and K in the soil, but they did not significantly (p>0.05) affect N-NH4+. The interaction of deep tillage management and soil ameliorant had no significant effect (p>0.05) on total N, P, and K plant uptake. Ameliorant treatment of cow manure significantly affected rice yields with a dry grain weight of 7.13 t ha-1 or an increase of about 7% from the control treatment. Deep tillage management and
ameliorant did not significantly affect them since they were applied only once during the growing season. It still needs deep observation in the long-term experiment. Soil tillage management and ameliorant can increase nutrient availability and yields on low- nutrient soils, especially Vertics Endoaquepts.
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the national core budget of the Indonesian Agricultural Environment Research Institute (IAERI). The authors appreciate the support of IAERI’s researchers and technicians, who helped in the field and laboratory works.
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